Tag: dependable

This is a lot more than a theme for the quarter. This is who we’ve been and who we have to be every day. The formula is simple and rewarding for all, customers inside the company (you) and customers that may or do purchase from us.

When I was 27, back in 2000, I was in the fourth year of business at my first company and had accomplished what to me was a huge milestone. I no longer owed $65,000 to credit card companies that supported me and my fledgling company. I had paid off my debt to them and was beginning to repair my personal credit. I couldn’t buy a house, but I could trade up from my 1992 Dodge Caravan.

My partner and I had decided that we were going to celebrate four years of very difficult work by purchasing a pair of nice cars.

First I went to the Audi dealer on Genesee to look at an A8. When I walked in, I had to walk around and find a sales person to talk to. When I did, he told me they didn’t have any A8s on the lot and didn’t have any brochures. I’d have to come back in a week, they should have some literature by then.

Next, I went to the Mercedes dealer on Main St. This experience was even worse. I stood in the showroom and waited for someone to come help me out. This is no joke or stretch of the truth… I stood there for 10 minutes with people walking by, looking at me, talking amongst themselves and essentially looking right through me as if I wasn’t even there.

Quite ticked at this point, I gave one more place a shot. I drove out to East Aurora to the only BMW dealer around. When I walked in I was greeted by Mike Monteith. He asked what he could do for me. I told him I wanted to test drive a 740iL. Without hesitation, Mike handed me the keys to one, put a plate on it and told me to take my time. When I got back from a test drive that could have landed me in jail, the way I was driving that thing, Mike answered every question I had and told me everything I could possibly want to know about the car.

When done, I purchased two 740s from Mike that same day.

Since 2000, I’ve purchased 8 more cars from Mike and Towne BMW and I’ve never even considered test driving Audi or Mercedes, nor will I buy from either of those dealerships. I’ve also referred at least a dozen people to Mike and Towne BMW and would gladly do so all day.

What was was the difference? It’s plain to see.

Mike was responsive and dependable, as is the entire team and staff at Towne. The others may have gotten around to me when they had time, it simply doesn’t work that way. The funniest of all came a year later when a sales rep from the Audi dealership called me to ask if I was still interested. He took a whole year to call me!

When you need information, answers to questions, data to support your ideas or just someone to go to lunch with, who is your first choice?

I know for me, the first place I go is he/she that has historically been the most responsive and the most dependable. Don’t you?

If it’s data that you need, don’t you seek out the person that provides the most accurate data that has been thoroughly reviewed before handing it over?

How frustrating is it when that person isn’t available or when the outcome isn’t as you needed and expected it to be?

Everyone wants and deserves responsiveness and dependability. You get what you give, it works no other way.

This isn’t just a sales thing either, this is support, service, shipping, purchasing, engineering, marketing and accounting – everyone! The challenge I want you to beat personally and collectively is to be as incredibly responsive and ridiculously dependable to EVERY request that comes your way. Set your bar high and try to do even better. Beat your goals, challenge your peers, compete with yourself and your team mates.

If a customer sends an inquiry to the company, they deserve the most immediate and dependable response that we can possibly deliver.

When a customer calls to talk to someone, they should NEVER go to voicemail. They deserve better.

Next time one of your co-workers needs something from you, the immediacy of your response is absolutely critical, even if the response is nothing more than a date/time that they can expect their answer… Then never fail to deliver on time. They deserve that or better, just as you expect to get when you need answers.

You can be as feature rich, fancy, full of knowledge, cheap or expensive, complicated or simple as pie. None of those things matter if you don’t respond immediately and deliver dependability every time.